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Monday, November 09, 2009

With Transformers Universe taking an indefinite hiatus, Transfans can only get their fix from Hasbro’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie line, which is currently putting out new figures and tons of repaints long after the movie has gone from theaters.

Bludgeon (Decepticon Bludgeon to you copyright fans) is the latest Voyager class bot to come out of the ROTF line, and to be honest I’m impressed and downright psyched by what Hasbro has done to please both G1 fans and the casual movie-former lovers: they took a character so undeniably old-school and made it fit both the G1 and movie aesthetic, ultimately bridging both. He’s like the Barack Obama of TFs!

Now I’m not much of a Transformers wiz, having only started collecting TFs this year, but all I know is that back in the G1 days, Bludgeon was a samurai ghost robot, which for all intents and purposes is already awesome in and of itself. He was a Pretender, a smaller Transformer that hid under a larger shell. Bludgeon’s outer shell was a skeleton in samurai armor, and inside he was a robot that transformed into a tank. I don’t know why he thinks he can fool anyone by dressing up as a giant samurai skeleton, but Decepticons aren’t exactly known for smarts, only firepower, which Bludgeon has a metric ton of.

His alt-mode is a “jungle tank” according to the back of the box,, but us nerds know its actually a Japanese Type 90 tank. His turret rotates the full 360 degrees, something even ROTF Megatron was incapable of doing.

The machine gun on top of the turret also rotates, and it rolls on surfaces great. You haven’t even transformed him yet and you’ve got a great looking and highly playable toy tank!

Transforming Bludgeon is a pretty involved process, but the engineering spent on this toy to turn it from a tank to a samurai robot is nothing short of impressive.

There are a lot of things to flip over, turn around and break in two, but in the end you get a toy that really looks like an undead robot samurai, instead of Hasbro just giving some robot a samurai sword and helmet and calling it a day.

Paint-wise, I love his shade of green on the tank, and the garish orange probably highlight his spectral nature. He’s got a Mech Alive feature, where the turret breaks in two to reveal a sheath for one his weapons, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Articulation is pretty limited, including a lack of waist swivel, but you can make the most out of what’s there. He’s got a neck swivel, swivel shoulders, arms and legs, double elbows and hinge knees, and you can get a pretty good variety of limber moves you expect a samurai to do!

Speaking of which, you can’t be a samurai without a sword, and Bludgeon gets to have the biggest-ass sword of all. Pull out the gray tip of the tank turret for his nodachi (long sword), and his Mech Alive feature brings out his wakizashi (short sword). You can store both through holes on his right hip just like a real samurai. Mad respect for Hasbro for going out of their way to put in these little details that really make Bludgeon more than a toy.

They’re both made of pretty soft plastic which is too bendy for my taste, but I guess it’s a blessing in disguise…it’s a bitch to get them in Bludgeon’s hands. Dude’s got grip! But once he’s armed, some poor Autobot’s about to become sashimi!

I never liked the movie aesthetic, to be honest, and the news of Universe phasing out made me ultra-sad. But Bludgeon gave me hope that we can get good, classic characters out of the movie line’s extended run. This big undead samurai robot is an awesome toy, with appeal that reaches across borders. You gotta respect the way of the samurai!

It's not out in the Philippines yet, but I got him from a specialty store in Greenhills for pretty much SRP. Once he drops, get him fast!

He and his wavemate Recon Ironhide are out in regular malls now [TK branches have had them for about a week or so]. I love this Stormbringer design so much that I bought mine about a month ago from a specialty store, but I'm definitely also getting the Ironhide now.

Be the grains of sand, and nothing but time will take you. The rocks must become it, the waves and wind must bear it and those who would hold it find it slips through their grasp. Always some trace in a faraway nook, if never the whole is seen again.